Influencial games for me
Nothing here!
10 Games
I had my own Amiga 500 as a kid, but did not own many games as I come from poor upbringing. I was very bored as a kid so I spent a lot of time trying to find things to do.
One day I found out we had a community house. It was a house where young people could come and do all sorts of things.
They had an Amiga and they had the game Dune II.
From the very first time I booted up that game, I was hooked. I spent many weekends and holidays, biking to the local community house, to see if their Amiga was free today, so I could game Dune.
Even though you could save your progress, sometimes other kids would overwrite my savegame as there were a limited amount of slots. Very annoying to have to start over again and again. Level 5 was a mission I often had trouble with I recall.
As time passed, trying to save up for my own copy, I spent many hours playing the game, until finally beating it for the first time as Harkonnen.
After that I finally got my own copy and played until also have beaten it with Ordos and Artreides.
This is the first game I ever completed. And 3 times at that.
I loved it. I did not know about any book or movie until years later.
Any other RTS game ever played since then allways reminded me of this game. I see almost no difference in mechanics. The Westwood formula was perfect out of the gate. Newer games only brought better graphics, higher speed gameplay and maybe polical systems that rarely were implemented well.
Even the most popular RTS StarCraft. It is basically Dune II. They just refined every aspect of the game to Nth degree. But anything StarCraft did Dune already did
One day I found out we had a community house. It was a house where young people could come and do all sorts of things.
They had an Amiga and they had the game Dune II.
From the very first time I booted up that game, I was hooked. I spent many weekends and holidays, biking to the local community house, to see if their Amiga was free today, so I could game Dune.
Even though you could save your progress, sometimes other kids would overwrite my savegame as there were a limited amount of slots. Very annoying to have to start over again and again. Level 5 was a mission I often had trouble with I recall.
As time passed, trying to save up for my own copy, I spent many hours playing the game, until finally beating it for the first time as Harkonnen.
After that I finally got my own copy and played until also have beaten it with Ordos and Artreides.
This is the first game I ever completed. And 3 times at that.
I loved it. I did not know about any book or movie until years later.
Any other RTS game ever played since then allways reminded me of this game. I see almost no difference in mechanics. The Westwood formula was perfect out of the gate. Newer games only brought better graphics, higher speed gameplay and maybe polical systems that rarely were implemented well.
Even the most popular RTS StarCraft. It is basically Dune II. They just refined every aspect of the game to Nth degree. But anything StarCraft did Dune already did
1
When this came out it was at the time another low point in my life.
I was fired from my first full time job that I got right after "high school". I was at a loss to what I wanted to do with my life for the first time and had my only 3 months of unemployment since I was 11.
I was drifting in the aether and this game fell into my lap.
I was already a MtG player and also an immense fan of Dragon Lance. I had read a few Forgotten Realms books, but they never attached to me like DL did. Imagine my fascination when a sidequest had me go through a portal where I met a Knight of Solamnia. Baffling to me what fanservice already existed in those days. What a day that was.
I had a faint recollection of Baldurs Gate 1, but I was back then way too young to understand the complexity of the game so this game was my first real deep dive into a true CRPG.
Those 3 months went by so quick due to this game, and when finally done with it I woke from my stupor, pulled myself together, went back to school and finally got on my way to greater things.
This game helped me get through some of my darkest hours, and I will hold it and the characters I met in there forever close.
I was fired from my first full time job that I got right after "high school". I was at a loss to what I wanted to do with my life for the first time and had my only 3 months of unemployment since I was 11.
I was drifting in the aether and this game fell into my lap.
I was already a MtG player and also an immense fan of Dragon Lance. I had read a few Forgotten Realms books, but they never attached to me like DL did. Imagine my fascination when a sidequest had me go through a portal where I met a Knight of Solamnia. Baffling to me what fanservice already existed in those days. What a day that was.
I had a faint recollection of Baldurs Gate 1, but I was back then way too young to understand the complexity of the game so this game was my first real deep dive into a true CRPG.
Those 3 months went by so quick due to this game, and when finally done with it I woke from my stupor, pulled myself together, went back to school and finally got on my way to greater things.
This game helped me get through some of my darkest hours, and I will hold it and the characters I met in there forever close.
2
This has a weird place in my gaming history. I did not have enough money to own several consoles, so this title was not in my possession.
I had a good friend though and he had them all. So many gaming titles have been played at his house whenever he had time for me and he was not playing himself. Because even though he had several consoles, he only had 1 TV.
I started this game up so many times but never got far because holy moly a fear it struck in me. I had never tried that before. The mix of this slow paced game, with enticing puzzles intreagued me immensely. But the constraints of the stationary camera, the small inventory and then these freaky zombies trying to kill me, just set off bursts of adrenalin in my body. Fight or flight. I do not flee but my fine motor skills are hugely impacted negatively.
I played many times, but no matter what, getting past my first Hunter would only be successful many years later on a PC.
Many games has done the same for me. Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, Half-Life etc.
But this game just had the right mix for me to back to it time and again, and it introduced a weird ambivalent love for horror, that spread to movies also.
This is the first horror game that I completed. And I have played many horror games. I am just freakeshly inept at executing these games 😂 but I still love the sensation.
I do not do well with fast-paced horror games especially if you have to flee to survive as my brain can't seem to compute that. I need to kill and survive, not flee and hide.
Since completing this I also forced myself through Silent Hill 2, RE2remake because that sensation of fear and adrenalin is something else.
I had a good friend though and he had them all. So many gaming titles have been played at his house whenever he had time for me and he was not playing himself. Because even though he had several consoles, he only had 1 TV.
I started this game up so many times but never got far because holy moly a fear it struck in me. I had never tried that before. The mix of this slow paced game, with enticing puzzles intreagued me immensely. But the constraints of the stationary camera, the small inventory and then these freaky zombies trying to kill me, just set off bursts of adrenalin in my body. Fight or flight. I do not flee but my fine motor skills are hugely impacted negatively.
I played many times, but no matter what, getting past my first Hunter would only be successful many years later on a PC.
Many games has done the same for me. Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, Half-Life etc.
But this game just had the right mix for me to back to it time and again, and it introduced a weird ambivalent love for horror, that spread to movies also.
This is the first horror game that I completed. And I have played many horror games. I am just freakeshly inept at executing these games 😂 but I still love the sensation.
I do not do well with fast-paced horror games especially if you have to flee to survive as my brain can't seem to compute that. I need to kill and survive, not flee and hide.
Since completing this I also forced myself through Silent Hill 2, RE2remake because that sensation of fear and adrenalin is something else.
3
My first experience with this pulled me into a rabbit hole with hours upon hours in a sinkhole.
Very intricate system that was very advanced for the times.
Settle cities, build buildings, research, build more buildings, keep citizens happy, create war units for defense and offense.
Exploration is a huge part of the game.
Suddenly hit water. No sailing capability. Research, build harbour, build boats.
Advance research to upgrade units.
I remember the political system as very simple and never something I found useful.
My usual goal in the was to be the nation that built most wonders of the world.
This because they gave quite the boost to my economy, but also because if I built the wonders first it usually meant I was leading in research, and that most likely meant I had access to more powerful units.
I do remember one gameplay where I won the game with a horse unit, as a LL my opponents had awful strategies and their defenses were weak.
But my average gamplays always had me in the space age before winning.
I find this type of gameplay heavily addictive.
This game, like Dune II, already had invented the mechanics needed and newer versions of Civ or Civ-likes all inherited these mechanics and fine tuned them.
I love this gameplay and have fond memories of it
Very intricate system that was very advanced for the times.
Settle cities, build buildings, research, build more buildings, keep citizens happy, create war units for defense and offense.
Exploration is a huge part of the game.
Suddenly hit water. No sailing capability. Research, build harbour, build boats.
Advance research to upgrade units.
I remember the political system as very simple and never something I found useful.
My usual goal in the was to be the nation that built most wonders of the world.
This because they gave quite the boost to my economy, but also because if I built the wonders first it usually meant I was leading in research, and that most likely meant I had access to more powerful units.
I do remember one gameplay where I won the game with a horse unit, as a LL my opponents had awful strategies and their defenses were weak.
But my average gamplays always had me in the space age before winning.
I find this type of gameplay heavily addictive.
This game, like Dune II, already had invented the mechanics needed and newer versions of Civ or Civ-likes all inherited these mechanics and fine tuned them.
I love this gameplay and have fond memories of it
4
I came home to my best friend and saw him playing this game. I just sat down, dighed into the crisp bag, and enjoyed watching a new game far from any other I had seen before.
Stealth game, puzzles and he had this Uber cool sidearm that I never forgot. Mk23 from H&K. Used by special forces like Seals. Ambidextrous, large cal and with the laser pointer looked sick.
I was forever in love with that sidearm, so much so that I bought an Airsoft version in full metal, gas-driven.
I started in an Airsoft club due to this new obsession.
I finally did get to play this at my friend's house, but I was an Amiga/PC gamer I had no idea how to use a controller. My friend had good times watching me fail.
I failed a lot but kept on. I met Psycho Mantis and blew a gasket trying to figure out why the F he was so hard to beat. I surely gave my inept cpbtroller experience the fault. He was literally reading my mind. Bugged game for sure. My mate did have compassion enough to let me in on a secret, a secret that blew my mind.
How meta was that fight. The innovativeness of Kojima to exploit the physical world so much combined with Psycho Mantis' ability to read my mind was genius.
I know of no other game that has done something this great before this game or even since. Something obscure probably exists but this was mount Everest to me.
I loved this game and it is one of the reasons I even considered buying my first console. The PS3. I was not going to let too many Metal Gear titles slip away from me.
Stealth game, puzzles and he had this Uber cool sidearm that I never forgot. Mk23 from H&K. Used by special forces like Seals. Ambidextrous, large cal and with the laser pointer looked sick.
I was forever in love with that sidearm, so much so that I bought an Airsoft version in full metal, gas-driven.
I started in an Airsoft club due to this new obsession.
I finally did get to play this at my friend's house, but I was an Amiga/PC gamer I had no idea how to use a controller. My friend had good times watching me fail.
I failed a lot but kept on. I met Psycho Mantis and blew a gasket trying to figure out why the F he was so hard to beat. I surely gave my inept cpbtroller experience the fault. He was literally reading my mind. Bugged game for sure. My mate did have compassion enough to let me in on a secret, a secret that blew my mind.
How meta was that fight. The innovativeness of Kojima to exploit the physical world so much combined with Psycho Mantis' ability to read my mind was genius.
I know of no other game that has done something this great before this game or even since. Something obscure probably exists but this was mount Everest to me.
I loved this game and it is one of the reasons I even considered buying my first console. The PS3. I was not going to let too many Metal Gear titles slip away from me.
5
This for me is not the greatest Diablo game. Diablo II takes that price for sure.
This came out when I was like 15 or so.
I was a teenage boy, that listened to Nirvana and Metallica, had long hair, and an attitude.
I was in a dark period doing dumb stuff with my dumb teenage 🧠.
This game with it's dark themes and wonderful gameplay made sure that I had fewer hours to do other dumb stuff.
I was reading Dragon Lance, playing MtG and DnD so having a game give me a taste of hacking and slashing, leveling, finding gear, equipping, doing magic was unbelievably awesome for an idiot kid like me.
What wonderful hours I spent in this world.
This came out when I was like 15 or so.
I was a teenage boy, that listened to Nirvana and Metallica, had long hair, and an attitude.
I was in a dark period doing dumb stuff with my dumb teenage 🧠.
This game with it's dark themes and wonderful gameplay made sure that I had fewer hours to do other dumb stuff.
I was reading Dragon Lance, playing MtG and DnD so having a game give me a taste of hacking and slashing, leveling, finding gear, equipping, doing magic was unbelievably awesome for an idiot kid like me.
What wonderful hours I spent in this world.
6
My stepfather's brother gave me my first experience with a PC. Up until then I had only owned a Commodore 64 with tape station and then an Amiga 500.
I was used to intricate booting systems, numerous discswappings (Simon the Sorcerer, right?).
He had a PC. I do not recall what CPU bit I remember minesweeper, 3D Chess and Wolfenstein 3D.
I was also watching Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dirty Dozen and 'Allo 'Allo. So wacking those baddies seemed like a good idea.
What a simple game when looking back, but how fun was that.
This game made me go all-in at my confirmation (Christian rite) when I turned 14. It is a custom in my country to get gifts, and mostly monetary ones.
I worked by butt off since I was 11 to save up money and did not know that 3 years later it all would go into a devil machine.
The day after my confirmation I drove to the computer store and bought a x86 Pentium computer with a CRT screen for roughly 2000 USD.
All my savings went into it. All because of Wolfenstein 3D. I also then got access to Doom of course but it was Wolfensteins fault that I even considered a PC.
I have never completed it. It was way too difficult for me back then and other games came and went, but this game will always be in my memory.
I was used to intricate booting systems, numerous discswappings (Simon the Sorcerer, right?).
He had a PC. I do not recall what CPU bit I remember minesweeper, 3D Chess and Wolfenstein 3D.
I was also watching Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark, Dirty Dozen and 'Allo 'Allo. So wacking those baddies seemed like a good idea.
What a simple game when looking back, but how fun was that.
This game made me go all-in at my confirmation (Christian rite) when I turned 14. It is a custom in my country to get gifts, and mostly monetary ones.
I worked by butt off since I was 11 to save up money and did not know that 3 years later it all would go into a devil machine.
The day after my confirmation I drove to the computer store and bought a x86 Pentium computer with a CRT screen for roughly 2000 USD.
All my savings went into it. All because of Wolfenstein 3D. I also then got access to Doom of course but it was Wolfensteins fault that I even considered a PC.
I have never completed it. It was way too difficult for me back then and other games came and went, but this game will always be in my memory.
7
That initial tram transport in the beginning. It is seered into my mind. I played that beginning quite a few times.
It felt cinematic. No FPS game I played prior to this had this feel to it.
I loved FPS games at this time of my life. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom series, Quake. All of them arcady and fun.
Half-Life was not arcady, not fun. It was grounded, dark and scary.
I especially remember those small start critters that reminded me of face huggers from Alien/Aliens.
I am so envious of people who got through till the end as I wanted nothing but.
I had to upgrade my PC to be able to play this game, so this was my first PC upgrade since my first PC. I had a part time job besides school and lived with my father, but I was still short on cash.
But I had to do this upgrade. And then for a game that I never would be able to complete.
It felt cinematic. No FPS game I played prior to this had this feel to it.
I loved FPS games at this time of my life. Wolfenstein 3D, Doom series, Quake. All of them arcady and fun.
Half-Life was not arcady, not fun. It was grounded, dark and scary.
I especially remember those small start critters that reminded me of face huggers from Alien/Aliens.
I am so envious of people who got through till the end as I wanted nothing but.
I had to upgrade my PC to be able to play this game, so this was my first PC upgrade since my first PC. I had a part time job besides school and lived with my father, but I was still short on cash.
But I had to do this upgrade. And then for a game that I never would be able to complete.
9
10
3 Comments
That is actually a great idea Krampus. Thank you for the feedback.
I think it is best to update my reviews of these to be based on my experience and how I remember the game.
I updated Dune II just to see if that may be a good way of doing it.
I hope that gives you an interesting POV into how the game imprinted itself on me.
I think it is best to update my reviews of these to be based on my experience and how I remember the game.
I updated Dune II just to see if that may be a good way of doing it.
I hope that gives you an interesting POV into how the game imprinted itself on me.
I loved reading all the stories! I unfortunately discovered that you added them a little late since i didn't get a notification for it, but i liked reading it. Really gave me interesting perspectives.
Krampus
30 days ago
I am curious about the stories